Call Center Convention 2008
Call centers focus on customers
11th Call Center Convention in Vienna
Once again, the 11th Call Center Convention in Vienna focused on professionalization and customer orientation in the industry. High-quality presentations by industry representatives gave the 200 visitors an insight into customers' perceptions of call center work and the importance of customer care. In addition to keynote speeches by Turkish mobile phone service provider Avea and Internet, TV and telephony specialist UPC Hungary, the need for professional call centers was emphasized by Belgian financial giant KBC Bank and E.ON Slovakia.
"Call center clients also need to be aware that their customers are never the same. Although many know exactly what they want, there are just as many who need comprehensive, high-quality advice," François Rossillion, Senior Expert Distribution at KBC Group NV, told pressetext news agency.
According to Demet BaÅŸak Tekin, Customer Care Operations Director at Turkish mobile phone service provider Avea, this is important in terms of the huge potential for growth in Turkey.
A panel discussion on the hotly debated issue of "Code of honour vs. legal regulation" completed the programme.
In her presentation on "Customer Advocacy, The Next Competitive Battleground" Nicolette Wuring, author and managing director of Dutch consulting agency Customer Management Services, pointed out that many companies have lost respect for their customers. In her view, this is one of the key reasons behind the current collapse of the financial system. "Consumers are extremely critical. This means that respect, trust and authenticity towards all customers are a basic requirement."
According to Nicolette Wuring, anyone who neglects this aspect loses not just the emotional connection to the customer but also – and above all – control over the public's perception of a brand. This is because brands are created not by the company but almost exclusively by customer communities. In view of the importance of call centers, these aspects should always be taken into consideration.
They are also a key factor for energy companies during unpredictable weather conditions, said Vlastimil Mazal, Head of Call Center at E.ON Slovakia.
Since trust is a currency for call center agents, management primarily needs to convey value and service concepts to its own employees beforehand. Only then can quality and business success be assured, according to Wuring.
Forian Fügemann
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Code of honour not a panacea for increasing quality and transparency
Expert discussion at the 11th Call Center Convention
The issue of code of honour and legal regulation is currently being hotly debated by the industry in Germany as well as in Austria and Switzerland. The topic was discussed by a panel of leading industry experts at the 11th Call Center Convention, with the debate being moderated by Christoph Pause, editor-in-chief of the industry magazine "TeleTalk".
Although active telephone marketing has developed into a booming business area, the experts at the subsequent panel discussion agreed that dubious business practices still need to be rooted out to ensure quality and sustainable growth for the industry.
“The debate wouldn't be such a hot topic if the calls made by call centres to potential customers weren't so bad,“ said Kay Rosenbaum, Customer Service Director at logistics company DHL.
Consumer researcher Prof. Karl Kollmann and data protection expert Wolfgang Ziegler, on the other hand, are calling for more severe penalties. Ultimately, the advantage of the individual should not be greater than the advantage of the group. “Too little regulation leads to chaos,“ said Kollmann.
Axel Johannemann, managing director of sService Center in Vienna, held a similar view. The expert pointed out that many customers had already had negative experiences with bad call centers and that this had an effect on the company's own dealings with its customers. “If a customer puts a bank transfer form into one of our boxes and forgets to sign it, we're forced to phone him. But if he's been burned in the past, he may not even answer the phone any more.“ Although regulation is necessary in his view, “white sheeps“ should be allowed to continue working uninterrupted.
There is a broad consensus that, far beyond any legal regulations, the code of honour is a way of improving the industry's image. One industry representative was sceptical when she talked to pressetext, however: “A code of honour may increase quality for the call centres that already work in a reputable way, but as a former managing director and boss of 200 employees I'm also very aware that the 'black sheep' among the call centres wouldn't take much notice of this kind of code.“
Experts are divided on the extent of regulation that is necessary. Rosenbaum, for instance, doubts that the quality of the call centre industry can be improved by implementing appropriate measures. The problem is rather that clients often lack knowledge about what they can achieve with a call centre, how and with what purpose. While Rosenbaum is optimistically pinning his hopes on quality pressure and assumes that the entire industry will sort itself out on its own, financial representative Johannemann fears "regulations that are adopted over-hastily on the basis of snapshots of current conditions and that are only improved little by little over the coming years".
Florian Fügemann
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Nicolette Wuring receives Call Center award
Award for many years of international dedication at the 11th Call Center Convention
Nicolette Wuring, author and managing director of Dutch consulting agency Customer Management Services, is this year's prizewinner at the CCC Special Awards. The 11th Call Center Convention saw the award being presented for the third time. Dutch-born Wuring was honoured in particular for her many years of dedication in the area of loyalty management. The call center expert thus follows the previous year's winner Simone Fojut, editor-in-chief of the trade publication "CallCenterProfi", into the "CCC Hall of Fame" renowned throughout the industry.
"In her work, Wuring is virtually second to none in terms of focusing on people. She has thus made a major contribution to the entire call center industry," said Thomas Kloibhofer, member of the board and founder of the Competence Call Center and organizer of the Call Center Convention, in his presentation speech. Wuring's book "Customer Advocacy. When You Care, People Notice", which was presented at the Call Center Convention, provides entrepreneurs, managers and marketing experts with an important 'how-to' manual on dealing with employees. According to Kloibhofer, the strategies developed by Wuring provide the call centre industry with important food for thought for the future, thus contributing above all to the professionalization of the industry.
Wuring, who is regarded as a pioneer in customer operations, has already been responsible for strategic projects and mergers as well as reorganizations in a wide variety of companies throughout Europe and the USA during the course of her career. In her book, the businesswoman provides answers to questions about trust and loyalty among employees and customers, with well thought-out value and service concepts at all enterprise levels playing a key role. Ultimately, it's about increasing the brand value and company profit in the long term. In her work, Wuring aims to spark a fire among employees and customers. "Only then are employees inspired to act as the messengers of their company," says this year's prizewinner.
The CCC Special Award therefore honours Wuring for both her positive image work and her international dedication, according to Kloibhofer. "I'm delighted to receive the award and hope to be able to continue to make a contribution to the industry," said this year's winner. In addition to her presentations, Wuring also supports and organizes "Transformational Leadership Programs" and "Employee & Customer Advocacy Masterclasses".
The CCC prize was first awarded at the 9th Call Center Convention in 2006. The award honours those who make a significant contribution to the development and professionalization of the industry.
Florian Fügemann
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| Margit Edelsbacher |
